I visited Iranian-born artist and friend Alinah Azadeh in her studio today. Freezing cold, as there was no heating and standing in our coats clutching warm cups of tea we discussed her work and our showing it at a forthcoming show. Having visited her wonderful installation at the National Portrait Gallery on 8th Jan, Chasing Mirrors:Portraits of the Unseen where she worked with young Muslim asylum seekers to create a non-figurative work of hanging objects wrapped in brightly coloured cloths and text from the younsters thoughts and reflections about their culture and homeland. A collaborative portrait. There is plenty of information still available about this project if you want to explore it and also here is a link to the project blog Alinah wrote on Artist's Newsletter.
We have been in discussion a few times because I am fascinated at Alinah's ability to create collaborative art with the general public but also having a deep affinity for textiles I often wonder how I can find work using textiles that suits an "art" environment. Alinah has always been involved in public art and to create work for a smaller domestic scale has been an interesting challenge. However, her new works are delightful, eye-catching and quite unique. Inspired by the thirteenth century Sufi Poet, Rumi a ribbon of poetry wraps each of the individual objects chosen and relates to what lies underneath. The juxtaposition of everyday objects with the ancient poetry is insightful and the use of natural materials to wrap man-made objects is also thought-proving. They are beautiful, tactile creations.
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